When Activision launched the sequel to the Infinity Ward gem, Modern Warfare, the second installment broke all kinds of video game-related sales records. Can we expect a repeat now that Modern Warfare 3 is available? If I were a magic eight ball, signs would point to yes. Not that I have special insight to the purchasing habits of gamers, but hey, some trends are pretty obvious to see.

In fact, Modern Warfare 2 sold so well, it changed the landscape of how video games are perceived, snarky dating guides by damned. No longer are video games restricted to the basement dwellers who prefer to live their lives vicariously through animated pixels and polygons. The financial success of MW2 made it clear video games had finally graduated to a legitimate form of entertainment. Considering the records the game broke, the evolution was unavoidable.

With that in mind, can we expect the same from Modern Warfare 3, which hit the stores Tuesday morning at midnight, and needless to say, the Internet is reacting in a giddy manner. Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook are just some of the places the Modern Warfare 3 release is being celebrated.

And then the was the push from Activision themselves, which provided us with the nifty “Vet and n00b” commercial:

It should be noted there’s something of backlash aimed at Modern Warfare 3, but that’s just par for the course with the gaming community. It’s the exact same mentality that drives the “PS3 versus the Xbox 360 versus PC gaming” flamewars that tend to dominate these kinds of discussions. Here’s what should be the final word on these useless back and forths — like what you like folks — although, I’m afraid it will fall on deaf ears:

As for the reaction to the MW3 launch, Twitter naturally weighed in as the #MW3 hashtag is a current trend, and much like other trends, people are latching onto this one, too:

And so on and so on.

For what it’s worth, the majority of the reviews for MW3 have been quite glowing, but this is one game that’s probably “bad review” proof, that is, it doesn’t matter if Yahtzee Croshaw happens to rip it to shreds — something that hasn’t happened yet — people are still going to buy it like hotcakes.

Oddly enough, however, while the critics seem to be enjoying MW3, the anti-Modern Warfare folks are busy trolling over at Metacritic:

Notice the official reviews are good, but the user reviews are not. This is a direct result of the anti-Modern Warfare crowd, because, I guess, if you don’t like a game, it’s not allowed to get good reviews?

Whatever the case, the good is outweighing the negative, just as long as you aren’t this dude’s girlfriend:

While there have been some oddities concerning the launch — a truck in France getting jacked, resulting in 6000 copies of MW3 being stolen, or the overloading issues with Modern Warfare Elite — the day still belongs to Modern Warfare 3, that is, until Skyrim comes out on Friday.